Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Pennsylvania - Southern Philadelphia area
© 2002, © 2008 by Paul Freeman. Revised 7/12/08.
Buckman Airport (added 7/12/08) - Mustin NAF (revised 4/15/08)
Piasecki Factory Heliport (revised 4/15/08) - Platt-LePage Aircraft Factory (revised 2/20/06)
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39.84 North / 75.4 West (Southwest of Philadelphia International Airport, PA)
An October 1940 aerial view of a hangar & at least one plane at Buckman Airport (courtesy of Harvey Martin).
Sheri Brown recalled, “Buckman Airport was my family's legacy in aviation.
Before the airport existed it was farmland owned by my father's great-grandparents, the Boyd's.
Norman Smith use to barnstorm there long before the airport.
On one of his ferrying trips he stopped there & met a young boy who had been riding his horse through the field.
This meeting was the beginning of not only the airport but a great friendship between this boy (the instrument) and the pilot (his mentor).
Their chance meeting changed both their lives forever.
The boy sold rides for Mr. Smith as well as taking care of his airplane.
He later became a mechanic & pilot.
When he was able he joined the Civil Air Patrol & then the Army where he became a flight instructor.
When be returned home Buckman Airport had become very successful
and this man had helped to make it all possible for without him the airport property would never have been acquired by Mr. Smith.
This man is my father Albert Brown (Brownie) and he has a story to be told.
He is a wealth of information about those early days when flying was considered a great risk & only attempted by daredevils.”
The Buckman Airport reportedly originated in the early 1930's on the west side of Highland Avenue,
and It was built & operated by Norman Smith.
Ed Spellacy recalled, “I lived at 912 East 16th in Sun Hill when I was in grade school.
Every afternoon I would hear & then see the mail plane that had picked up the mail pouch.
I believe that the pouch was suspended from 2 poles.
The aircraft would hook the cable attached to the pouch & just about the time it went over my house the pouch was just being pulled in the door.
This always fascinated me & gave me a life-long interest in aviation.
I later had a chance to ride in a J3 cub at Buckman, a ride paid for by my uncle.”
The October 1940 issue of The Delaware County Advocate reported,
“Federal Government appropriations for civil airport expansion linked to defense plans
have included an allotment for Chester of $613,500.
It is expected that Buckman Airport, on the northwestern edge of the city, will be the subject for expansion & improvement.
It is situated directly on the radio beam of several present airlines,
and would be convenient for military as well as civil emergency landings.”
The earliest aeronautical chart depiction which has been located of Buckman Airport
was on the November 1941 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted Buckman as a commercial/municipal field.
Courtesy of Charles Fehl recalled, “In May of 1941 we moved into a house on Anderson Avenue.
All I had to do was look west & on the opposite hill was the Buckman Airport.
The Second World War started the following December,
and the airport became a storage depot for military vehicles, Jeeps,
half-tracks, 4X4 trucks, etc., for the Ford Motor Company in Chester.
My father worked for Ford driving those vehicles to Buckman Airport from the Ford plant.
He would come from 9th Street, up Anderson Avenue (then a dirt road) to the airport,
as Anderson Avenue ran directly into the airport entrance.
Sometimes, my father would pick up me & my buddies and give us a ride in a Jeep or half-track.
There were thousands of vehicles stored there, and a military guard post was built at the airport entrance at Township Line Road.
As kids, we got to know the soldiers who guarded the airport & would hang out at the guard shack.
We would sit around a pot-bellied stove, fascinated by the war stories we were told.”
Charles continued, “The war ended & returning military pilots flocked to the airport as did I.
I was about 9 years old & spent every available moment helping to push airplanes in & out of the hangars
and sometimes they would give me an airplane ride.
I never asked for a ride but did not refuse an offer of one.”
Charles continued, “A field adjacent to the south end of the north/south runway was the pickup station for the Adams Airmail Pickup System.
My friends & I would help the Adams representative assemble 2 poles from shorter sections he carried in his car trunk.
The poles when erected stood 14' high & were placed 20' apart.
At approximately 4:30 PM, the aircraft could be seen at first as a dot coming from the south.
This dot became a Stinson Reliant SR-10F.
When it arrived, a mail pouch was dropped, and we kids would chase & retrieve it.
Sometimes, the drop would miss & end up in the underbrush.
One pouch was lost for a year or more. It was found in the culvert pipe beneath the airport driveway.
The aircraft would then circle around & come in approximately 20' off the ground & snatch the rope that was attached to the mail pouch.
This rope was extended between the 2 poles.
This was accomplished with a pole extended beneath the aircraft that used a hook & winch apparatus to grab the rope.”
Charles continued, “An airshow was held every summer & was very popular.
This show was attended by many people who relied on public transportation.
The bus stop was at 9th Street & Langley Avenue, with Anderson Avenue being the most direct route to the airport.
My father would position me at the curb in front of our store with a galvanized wash tub filled with ice & sodas.
The air show attracted visiting aircraft of various designs, both military & civilian.
There was the constant sound of aircraft flying.”
Charles continued, “I remember one year that a mock attack on the airport was held by the National Guard during the airshow,
complete with paper bags containing flour simulating bombs being dropped from airplanes.
Charles continued, “The airport had a restaurant/snack bar in a separate building that was opened seasonally.
The building was located near the airport entrance.”
The Chester Times Year Book for 1949 reported, “Buckman Airport lies along Township Line road, in Upper Chichester Township,
just a half-mile from the western boundary of Chester.
It has two 1,800' runways, north/south & east/west.
There is hangar space for storing 17 planes.
Flying lessons are given by accredited instructors, and planes may be rented.
Norman Smith is manager; Norville Matthews is assistant manager.
Both men are licensed pilots & instructors.”
The Chester Times Year Book for 1949 also reported, “Delaware County Flying Club: Meets at Buckman Airport, Chester.
Solo flight is qualification for membership.
William Springer, president;, Phil Larney, Vice-president;, Harry Hladky, treasurer; Paul Nelson, Secretary.”
Rodger Phillips recalled, “In the 1950s, my brother & I used to rent the same J-3 Cub at Buckman
that my uncle learned to fly in back in the late 1930s.
The last aeronautical chart depiction which has been located of Buckman Airport
was on the 1955 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
It depicted Buckman as having an 1,800' unpaved runway.
Buckman Airport reported closed (for reasons unknown) at some point in the late 1950s.
It was definitely closed by 1960, as it was no longer depicted on the 1960 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
A circa 2006 aerial photo shows that there does not appear to be any trace remaining of the former Buckman Airport.
Micheal Denest recalled in 2008, “Long after this place closed,
there was a circular patch of ground left for us to fly radio-controlled model airplanes from.
There is a large car distribution center located there now.”
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Platt-LePage Aircraft Factory, Eddystone, PA
39.86 North / 75.32 West (Southwest of Philadelphia International Airport, PA)
The Platt-LePage Aircraft Company factory, pictured during the early days of Platt-LePage's testing (circa 1941).
Photo is courtesy of Jay Hendrickson (of the Platt-LePage Aircraft Archives).
The suburban Philadelphia area can make a strong claim to being the birthplace of the American helicopter industry,
and one of the earliest helicopter firms in the area was the Platt-LePage Aircraft Company.
Dr. Laurence LePage was a pioneer rotary wing designer working with Harold Pitcairn, and later with Kellett Autogiro.
LePage designed the first line of autogiros, K-2, K-3, and K-4,
establishing Kellet as manufacturer of well-performing autogiros.
In 1935, due to the effects of the economic depression in the 1930s,
Laurence LePage left Kellett to become an independent engineer.
By 1935, LePage met & became partners with Haviland Platt,
a mechanical engineer & patent expert with a number of rotary wing patents.
They collaborated on a number of ideas for a helicopter,
and then hearing of the early flights of the Focke FA-61,
they decided to investigate this promising development.
In 1938 Laurence LePage traveled to Germany to view the Focke Fw-61 helicopter,
and after much negotiation obtained an option to build Focke helicopters in the USA,
but the worsening conditions between the 2 governments prevented a deal going through.
In 1938, Platt & LePage formed The Platt-LePage Aircraft Company,
and proceeded on their own to design a helicopter based on their patents & ideas.
Design & construction was started on an experimental helicopter PL-1,
with Laurence LePage keeping the Air Corps informed of their progress during the early construction of their machine.
At this time there were no funds for the Air Corps to purchase a helicopter,
so the Platt-LePage design went forward as a private venture.
The Air Corps later held a competition for rotary winged aircraft,
and Platt-LePage redesigned the PL-1 to meet military needs & the design became known as the PL-3.
According to Jay Hendrickson (of the Platt-LePage Aircraft Archives), by 1940 Platt-LePage Aircraft Company
was located on the grounds of the former Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, PA.
Platt-LePage was "quite literally next to the Delaware river",
on the river side of the old Industrial Highway near the old General Steel Plant.
The building used by Platt-LePage was also the site of Baldwin's WW2 tank assembly works,
and the helicopters were test flown by the tank test course.
No airfield was depicted at the site Washington Sectional Charts from 1940, 1941, 1942, or 1944.
The Platt-LePage XR-1 hovering in 1944
(courtesy of Jay Hendrickson,of the Platt-LePage Aircraft Archives).
In 1940 the Platt-LePage Aircraft Company won the competition to build a helicopter designated XR-1.
The first flight of the XR-1 took place in 1941.
A number of teething problems developed with the control system,
causing delays in progress, along with test pilot Lou Leavitt refusing to fly the XR-1 in forward flight.
In 1943 Col. H.F. Gregory took the XR-1 up & proceeded to fly the XR-1 at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour,
and completed the first close course flight of the XR-1.
By the summer of 1943 the XR-1 was flying with much better control,
but the XR-1 was damaged due to the loss of a rotor blade, further slowing testing.
In 1943 the second model XR-1A made its first flight,
and was found to have better flying characteristics than the XR-1,
numerous flight tests were carried out,
and by 1944 the XR-1A was flown from Eddystone, PA, to Wright Field, OH,
passing through a dangerous mountain pass & flying through a long stretch of bad weather,
during which the XR-1A encountered a grounded Sikorsky XR-4 along the way.
By August of 1944 rebuilt XR-1 was back in the air & slowly progress was made in solving the control problems.
In March of 1945, just a few days after a new control system was installed
that solved some the problems with longitudinal stability,
the Air Corps canceled all contracts with Platt-LePage,
including 7 additional YR-1A helicopters that were to be built.
By this time the McDonnell Aircraft Company, which had invested in Platt-LePage Aircraft,
in exchange for having McDonnell personnel learn helicopter design,
had bought the rights to the PL-9 twin-engine twin-rotor design that became the McDonnell XHJD-1 Whirlaway,
the first twin engine helicopter to fly in the USA.
During this time period, Platt & LePage had proposed & patented the first tilt-rotor aircraft design in the US,
but the small size & lack of capital of Platt-LePage Aircraft,
along with lack of orders for military aircraft caused the Platt-LePage Aircraft Co. to shut down in 1946.
The McDonnell Aircraft Company obtained most of the helicopter patents from Platt-LePage during the liquidation of the company,
along with the personnel responsible for the twin engine project.
Robert Lichten, an ex-Platt-LePage engineer went to Bell Helicopter
and developed the tilt-rotor idea into the XV-3.
One other notable designer came from Platt-LePage -
a very young Frank Piasecki had his first helicopter design job at Platt-LePage,
before going off on his own, to a brilliant career as one of the great designers of helicopters.
A 1957 aerial view did not show any trace of the former Platt-LePage facility,
with the property having been cleared to make way for a powerplant which subsequently covered the site.
According to Jay Hendrickson, "Their location was in the area where PECO has their generating facility.
When PECO took over the area, all building were razed, so nothing remains.
A couple of longtime Eddystone residents confirmed this, as well as a surviving Platt-LePage engineer.
The Crum Creek or River separated the area between Platt-LePage & what was General Steel,
ironically Boeing took over the area once used by General Steel,
so Boeing & Platt-LePage were quite literally next to one another.
The area south of of the generating facility, that looks to be coal storage,
was where the (Baldwins) tank testing grounds were,
this is were most of the flight tests were carried out,
where they were often right by the ship loading cranes seen in a number of hover tests (they often were right next to shore).”
The 2005 USGS aerial photo of the site shows no evident remains of the former Platt-LePage facilities.
Ironically, note the extensive facilities of the Boeing Helicopter Company (home of the CH-47), just across the creek to the east.
The site of the Platt-LePage facility is located south of Industrial Highway,
west of its intersection with Crum Creek,
adjacent to the west side of the present-day Boeing Helicopter factory.
See also:
http://www.aerofiles.com/_pl.html
http://www.helis.com/pioneers/f_plp.php
http://www.oldchesterpa.com/platt_lepage_aircraft_co.htm
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Piasecki Factory Heliport, Morton, PA
39.91 North / 75.33 West (Northwest of Philadelphia International Airport, PA)
An undated photo of a Piasecki HRP-X Dogship.
Frank Piasecki was one of the pioneers of the helicopter industry.
He founded his company in 1940 in the Philadelphia suburbs, known at first as the P-V Engineering Forum.
Piasecki's PV-2 was the second helicopter to be flown in the US, making its maiden flight in 1943.
His improved PV-3 "Dogship" (HRP-X / XHRP-1 / HRP-1) flew in 1945.
These set the standard for a long line of Piasecki/Vertol/Boeing helicopters,
all of which used the successful tandem-rotor design which became the Piasecki hallmark.
The very unusual bent fuselage earned it the nickname "Flying Banana",
which stuck to this & later Piasecki models.
The PV-3 had 10 seats, and was powered by a 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial piston engine.
Over 5 years, small quantities were built for the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
In 1946, the P-V Engineering Forum changed its name to Piasecki Helicopter Corporation.
Piasecki Helicopter Corporation opened a new manufacturing plant in Morton, PA, in 1947 (according to Boeing).
The Piasecki plant consisted of a large factory, with a heliport west of the factory.
A control tower sat on top of the corner of the factory, overlooking the heliport.
The Morton plant was where hundreds of Piasecki helicopters were manufactured & flight tested.
A 2002 photo by Jason Brickman of a restored Piasecki PV-18 / HUP-1 Retriever.
The first examples of the PV-18 flew in 1952.
A 2002 photo by Jason Brickman of a restored Piasecki PD-22 / H-21 Shawnee, or "Flying Banana".
The first examples of the PD-22 flew in 1953.
A 1953 photo commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Piasecki PV-2, with a Piasecki H-21 behind it,
in front of the Morton Piasecki facility.
Pictured are Ken Meenen, Elliot Daland, Frank Piasecki, Don Meyers, Frank Mamrol, and Walt Swartz.
An undated photo of the huge Piasecki PV-15 / H-16 Transporter, which first flew in 1954.
It had 40 seats, and was the world's largest helicopter at the time.
According to Rich Kline (whose father in law worked for Frank Piasecki from the beginning),
"Frank would come out in the shop every day & talk to all the employees & knew all their families."
Additional manufacturing space was later acquired by renting 2 hangars at the nearby Philadelphia International Airport.
At the airport site, H-21 Shawnee fuselages were manufactured & completed H-21s were flight tested.
Company founder Frank Piasecki left the firm in 1955,
and established the Piasecki Aircraft Corporation at the Philadelphia International Airport.
The company he founded was renamed Vertol Aircraft Company the following year.
The Piasecki company apparently established another facility in nearby Wilmington, DE in 1957,
as the former Bellanca Field was labeled "Piasecki" on the 1957 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The maiden flight of the Piasecki PA-4 Sea Bat unmanned helicopter on October 25, 1958,
with a “Piasecki Aircraft” building in the background.
The earliest aerial photo which has been located of the Piasecki Morton facility was a 1958 aerial view.
The factory is on the east side, with what appear to be 3 helipads just northwest of it.
A large open grass field to the west also was used for helicopter flight operations.
Vertol was acquired by Boeing in 1960, becoming known for many years as Boeing Vertol.
The Morton "Vertol Heliport" was listed in the 1962 AOPA Airport Directory,
which described it as consisting of a 1,000' x 300' dirt heliport.
In 1962, Boeing Vertol relocated to a newly-established, much larger development & manufacturing site along the Delaware River,
southwest of the Philadelphia International Airport,
on property once occupied by a locomotive manufacturer.
The Morton plant was closed in the same year (according to Boeing).
The ahead-of-its-time Piasecki Pathfinder II compound high-speed helicopter,
photographed outside Piasecki facilities at the Philadelphia International Airport in 1970 by Steve Williams.
A July 5, 1971 aerial view of the Piasecki Morton facility, with the factory on the right.
At the center of the photo, west of the factory,
what appeared to be a paved taxiway led to a paved circular helipad.
A trail led to another more remote field to the west, perhaps used for other testing.
Boeing Vertol was eventually renamed Boeing Helicopters.
By 1990, the Piasecki/Vertol/Boeing companies had built a total of more than 2,500 aircraft
using Frank Piasecki's tandem rotor configuration.
The "Heliport" west of the factory was still depicted on the 1998 USGS topo map.
As of the late 1990s, the former Piasecki factory building in Morton still existed,
with the control tower still atop one corner.
A circa 2006 aerial photo of the former factory & heliport.
The heliport area to the west had been reused as a baseball field.
According to Rich Kline, the former Piasecki factory had been reused as a BJ's Wholesale Club.
A circa 2006 aerial view looking west at the former Piasecki factory building,
showing the considerable amount of industrial infrastructure which remains at the site.
The former Piasecki Factory is located west of the intersection of Woodland Avenue & Yale Avenue.
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Henry C. Mustin Naval Air Facility,
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, PA
40.1 North / 75.27 West (Northeast of Philadelphia International Airport, PA)
Mustin Field, as depicted on the Philly Chamber of Commerce's
1930 "Aviation Map of the Philadelphia Metro District" (courtesy of Tom Beamer).
The Philadelphia Navy Yard was established in 1801 on League Island in the Delaware River in Philadelphia.
In 1917, the Naval Aircraft Factory was established on the island.
After World War I, the Naval Air Factory served as a research & development to support the Navy's new air arm.
It built prototype aircraft & produced small production lots of aircraft.
The factory acquired its own airfield, Mustin Field, in 1926, along with 2 large hangars.
Mustin Field was named after Henry Mustin, the first pilot launched off an American ship.
The airfield layout of Mustin Field from the 1930 book "Philadelphia Aeronautical Center of the East"
(courtesy of the George H. Stuebing Collection of the Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Association).
The directory described the field as consisting of a 135 acre sod field,
measuring 3,200' east/west by 2,100' north/south.
The Philadelphia Naval Aircraft Factory was depicted on the south side of the field,
which was also said to have 4 hangars.
An aerial photo looking west at Mustin Field from the 1930 book "Philadelphia Aeronautical Center of the East"
(courtesy of the George H. Stuebing Collection of the Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Association).
Mustin Field, as depicted on the May 1932 J-18 Washington D. C. Airway Map (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Mustin Field, as depicted on the 1934 U.S. Navy Aviation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The 1934 Department of Commerce Airport Directory (according to Chris Kennedy)
described "Mustin Field - Navy" as having 3 cinder runways, with the longest being a 2,900' northwest/southeast strip.
A hangar was said to have "Naval Aircraft Factory" painted on the roof.
The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo)
described Mustin Field as having a total of 3 cindered runways,
with the longest being a 2,900' northwest/southeast strip.
The hangar was described as having "Naval Aircraft Factory" painted on the roof.
Mustin Field, as depicted on the 1940 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
During WW2, the Naval Aircraft Factory devoted considerable effort developing improvements to the Navy's PBY Catalina flying boat.
During 1940 the Naval Aircraft Factory developed several worthwhile hydrodynamic & aerodynamic modifications for the plane,
but these couldn't be incorporated without stopping Consolidated's production lines
and slowing much-needed deliveries of the current model.
So the Navy took a different tack: on July 16, 1941
an order for 156 modified PBY-5s went to the Naval Aircraft Factory itself.
The NAF version, designated PBN-1 Nomad, featured a longer hull (64' 8”),
a sharper bow, a 20% taper step amidships, and a shallow breaker step just forward of the tail.
Wingtip floats were redesigned for more lift & improved planing.
More fuel tanks were added in the wing center section.
Wings were strengthened to carry 38,000 pounds gross weight. A new electrical system was installed.
The most noticeable change, however, was the 2 feet in height added to the vertical fin.
The armament was unchanged with one exception:
a .50-caliber machine gun in a hydraulically powered turret replaced the .30-caliber gun in the bow.
The first Nomad didn't come off the NAF assembly line until February 1943.
The Naval Aircraft Factory was redesignated the Naval Air Material Center in 1943.
A 1944 photo of PBN-1 Nomad flying boats under construction
inside the Naval Air Material Center at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
Of the 156 PBN-ls produced in Philadelphia, 138 went to the U.S.S.R. under Lend-Lease.
The remaining 18 aircraft were assigned to training units at NAS Whidbey Island & NAF Newport.
A WW2-era Navy photo looking east at Mustin Field.
The 1947 Washington Sectional Chart depicted NAAS Mustin as having a 4,500' hard-surface runway.
In 1950, it was designated the Naval Air Experimental Station,
which included numerous research laboratories.
At some point between 1947-55,
the primary runway at Mustin was apparently lengthened,
as the 1955 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe),
described "NAAS Mustin" as having 3 paved runways, with the longest being 5,200'.
Mustin's primary runway was extended again within the next 2 years,
as the 1957 Philadelphia Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
described "Mustin ALF (Navy)" as having 3 paved runways, with the longest being 6,100'.
A 1957 aerial view depicted Mustin Field as having 3 paved runways.
A closeup from the 1957 aerial view, showing what appear to be 2 sets of aircraft carrier catapults &/or arresting gear, installed on the south side of Mustin Field.
A closeup from the 1957 aerial view, showing what appears to be an amazing variety of aircraft parked on the ramp on the southwest side of Mustin Field.
Are some of these “aircraft” (the dark silhouettes) merely outlines painted on the concrete, instead of real aircraft?
The 1960 Jeppesen Airway Manual (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
depicted "Mustin ALF" as having 3 paved runways, with the longest being the 6,135' Runway 9/27.
"ALF Mustin" was still depicted as an active Navy airfield
on the 1961 Philadelphia Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe),
with 3 runways, the longest of which was a 6,135' bituminous strip.
The Naval Air Material Center was redesignated the Naval Air Engineering Center in 1963.
Mustin Field was closed in 1963, in part due to its location immediately underneath
airline traffic on final approach to nearby Philadelphia International Airport.
It was labeled "Abandoned airport" on the January 1963 Philadelphia Local Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe).
The last aviation use of the Mustin facilities came after the airfield was actually closed.
In 1971, the seaplane ramp at Mustin was briefly used for testing of the X-28 Osprey, a small, single-place seaplane.
These tests were intended to explore the usefulness of the Osprey for civil police patrol in Southeast Asia,
and it made a unique contribution as a home-built aircraft in the X-Plane program.
The Osprey also was very unusual for a modern American fixed-wing military aircraft,
was actually an open-cockpit aircraft.
An undated photo of the sole X-28 Osprey in tests from the Delaware River at Mustin.
The X-28 testing at Mustin was complicated by the FAA mandate
that all flying be restricted to no higher than 300 feet altitude,
given the conflict with air traffic from Philadelphia International Airport.
Dave Lewis recalled, "I was stationed at Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1973-74.
I worked for special services & I recall that in the spring of 1974
we were involved in a project to convert the big blimp hangar at the field into a recreational facility.
We built 3 or 4 indoor tennis courts inside the hangar
and set up a weight room in one of the machine shops that was located next to the big hangar work floor.
I also remember seeing store rooms in the hangar that were full of all sorts of parts including dummy Sparrow missiles."
Diana Cannon recalled, “I'm a former Navy brat and lived in that brick 'residential complex' next to that big hangar in 1980-83.
I have fond memories of that place.
Wow... I never realized I was riding my bike down a landing strip!
When I lived there, that big hangar was the commissary.”
In 1974, the Naval Air Engineering Center was relocated to Lakehurst, NJ.
Late 1990s aerial view. Note large hangar with seaplane ramp along the river.
As seen in a late-1990s aerial view,
the remains of 3 paved runways (the longest is 4,100'), a large ramp area to the west,
and at least one large hangar (south of the midpoint of the long runway) still existed.
The 1998 USGS topo map depicted the “U.S. Naval Station Mustin Field (Inactive)”
as having 3 paved runways, ramps, taxiways, and hangars.
In the 1990s, the adjacent shipyard property was being redeveloped as a civil shipyard by the Kvaerner Corporation.
Plans for the airfield property are unknown.
As seen in a 2002 USGS aerial photo,
the hangar along the south side of Mustin Field remained intact.
Note the seaplane ramp leading down into the Delaware River, just below the hangar.
Diana Cannon reported in 2005 of the hangar area, “I heard future plans could be condos & a marina in that area.”
A circa 2005 aerial photo looking north at Mustin's hangar on the south side of the runway.
A circa 2006 aerial photo looking west at what may have been the Mustin airfield operations building (located northwest of the runways),
which appears to have what may have been a control tower atop the right side of the building.
A circa 2006 aerial photo looking south at what appears to be another former hangar at Mustin (located northwest of the runways),
Paul Freeman drove by the site of Mustin Field in 2007,
which is easily visible from the adjacent Interstate 95.
The entire airfield appears to remain intact, including the hangar along the south side of the runway.
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